This invention relates to gift baskets and more particularly a stacking tray or liner disposable within a gift basket that provides for the orderly placement and stacking of fruits and the like in the gift basket.
Gift baskets have become an enjoyable gift to give and receive. Gift baskets can be individually tailored to include a myriad of items including fruits, snacks, cheeses, wines, etc. However, putting together a gift basket that includes a number of fruit pieces is often time consuming and labor intensive.
The conventional method of packing fruit in a gift basket includes providing a filler such as paper shreddings in the basket to protect the fruit, placing the fruit among the shredding within the basket and taping the fruit together and/or to the basket to maintain the placement of the fruit. The placement of fruit is complicated when the fruit is required to be stacked and the generally round surface of one fruit is placed on another fruit and sufficient tape has to be provided to anchor the fruit in a selected placement.
The present invention provides a stacking tray or liner for a gift basket that allows a plurality of fruit pieces or the like to be easily positioned therein and maintained in the placement without requiring tape and the associated labor.
The present invention also provides a stacking tray or liner for a gift basket that can be placed on top of a row of fruit or the like to establish another tier of fruit or the like.
More specifically, a stacking tray or liner in accordance with the invention includes a formed plastic or paper product material rigid sheet having a plurality of arcuately shaped depressions disposed therein for placing fruits or the like therein the depressions. The sheet material may include one or more raised platform display portions on which various products can be displayed. The sheet material includes selective lines of perforation between the depressions and/or the raised portions to allow easy separation of one part of the sheet material from another.
In one embodiment of the invention, the stacking tray or liner is an irregularly shaped, perforated, stacking tray with multiple peripherally disposed arcuately shaped depressions surrounding raised central platforms to allow the display of various products such as food or consumer goods in an appealing manner as to promote the sale and appeal of the products. The perforations allow flexibility for use of the tray whereby sections of an upper tray can be removed to permit tall display items such as pineapples or wine bottles to extend past the level of the second tray in the display basket. The strategically placed perforated break-away sections may be removed by quarter or half section, allowing a plurality of arrangements depending on the size of the basket and the fruits and/or products being displayed and the layering desired.
These and other features and advantages of the invention will be more fully understood from the following detailed description of the invention taken together with the accompanying drawings.